In the dead of night, amidst a profound silence, Que Tang suddenly snapped her eyes open. With a reverse grip on her iron rod, she struck back at a foreign object lunging toward her. Seizing the opening, she twisted the rod to unsheathe a katana and, with a clean and decisive zigzag strike, sliced the entity apart.
She leaped nimbly from the tree branch, landing beside the priestess. Squatting down, she used the flickering firelight to examine the remains.
"...Thorns?" Que Tang furrowed her brows in surprise. Suddenly, several more objects lashed out. Reacting instinctively, she cut them down with a single stroke. She kicked the severed thorns into the fire to fuel the flames, then looked toward the wall of thorns that had previously been stationary. It had transformed into a mass of tentacle-like monsters; aside from the parts she had already severed, more thorns were incessantly attempting to attack.
Realizing the ninja was a difficult target, the thorns turned their attention to the man and the slime still fast asleep on the ground. With a sudden lash, the thorns coiled around the female lead and the male protagonist, whisking them away.
"Should I just let them be carried off?" Que Tang muttered to herself, pausing her movements. "Otherwise, I feel like my chastity is in danger."
Using her ninja footwork, she quickly pursued the vine dragging the priestess. After a few slashes to sever it, she realized the girl still hadn't woken up. Stopping to catch her breath, she noticed a strange fragrance permeating the air. The male protagonist and the priestess had likely fallen into a deep sleep from inhaling this scent, yet she remained unaffected. Que Tang untied the cord of the priestess’s red *hibakama* and tied it around her own waist, then pulled a cloth strip from her pack to secure the girl’s upper body to her. She began a rapid dash through the dark thickets, heading in the direction the hero had been taken.
Several times she nearly caught up, only for more thorns to sprout and attack. Que Tang could only press forward until she saw a faint light glimmering in the distance. Quickening her pace, she stepped out of the thorn forest just as she reached the hero.
The hero was placed gently on the grass, and the thorns returned to their original stillness.
"...So this was just a fully automated night-time conveyor belt? Why did I even bother resisting?" Que Tang silently untied her restraints and laid the priestess down next to the male protagonist. She walked to the edge of a pool to investigate.
The lake water didn't look shallow, yet the six-pointed magic circle at the bottom was clearly visible.
Que Tang pondered with a frown, then picked up a stone and tossed it toward the center of the lake.
The stone vanished into the water. Moments later, bubbles began to rise from the center, followed by waves that eventually formed a whirlpool.
A pale blue light slowly rose from the center of the vortex. Que Tang gripped her iron rod defensively.
As the blue light faded, a cute little wolf standing on its hind legs appeared. In its left and right paws, it held two objects of unknown nature.
It extended its left paw toward Que Tang. Seeing no reaction, it repeated the gesture in a cycle.
Someone stepped up beside her to explain.
"It’s asking if you dropped the one on the left, or the one on the right." Himiko’s ethereal voice sounded somewhat eerie in this moment.
"Fine." Que Tang turned to look at the Water Wolf, which was masquerading as the Goddess of the Spring. "Neither of those is what I threw."
The Water Wolf suddenly let out a shout as if offended, then vanished into the lake.
"It’s angry," Himiko explained.
Que Tang walked around the lake, trying to find a breakthrough, but she remained at a loss even after returning to her starting point. Remembering that throwing a stone had triggered a reaction, she picked up another and threw it again, but this time the water remained still. She paced back and forth, then her eyes fell upon the sleeping male protagonist. Without hesitation, she picked him up and tossed him into the lake.
This time, the center of the lake reacted exactly as before. Before long, the Water Wolf appeared, holding a person in each of its paws.
Que Tang’s eyes widened in shock. "Anderson Cooper and Takeshi Kaneshiro! What do I do? Who should I choose?" Her carefully cultivated "cool and aloof" persona crumbled in an instant.
Himiko, who had been unresponsive, finally gave her a deadpan look. Before the Water Wolf could speak, she blurted out: "Awoo."
The Water Wolf nodded and tossed both men back into the water. With a flick of its paws, the figure of the male protagonist appeared.
Que Tang’s shoulders slumped in disappointment immediately.
Himiko stood unmoved as she accepted the slime handed over by the Water Wolf. "Awoo—"
It was unclear what she said, but the Water Wolf suddenly bared its claws and swung fiercely at the priestess. Que Tang’s iron rod shot out to block the attack. She then grabbed Himiko by the waist and leaped backward, jumping out of the creature's reach. However, a barrage of water magic followed immediately.
"What did you say to it? Why did it suddenly start attacking?" Que Tang held her as she darted back and forth, incessantly dodging the water arrows falling from the sky.
"I just told it... to return the magic," Himiko said, her eyes downcast.
Return? Que Tang frowned. Knowing this wasn't the time for a discussion, she focused on observing the Water Wolf's attack patterns. She noticed the wolf was constantly howling.
She leaned down and whispered in Himiko’s ear, "Take care of yourself. I’ll go ahead to distract it. Also, give me this." She snatched Aotian Slime away. Once Himiko nodded, she gave the girl a push backward and charged toward the lakeshore. Calculating the timing of the Water Wolf opening its mouth, as well as the angle and trajectory, she made sure everything was perfect. Then, like a baseball pitcher, she swung her arm with full force, accurately hurling Aotian Slime into the Water Wolf’s wide-open maw, muffling its voice.
The magic attacks ceased instantly. The Water Wolf, choking on its own throat, coughed painfully on the surface of the lake, trying to spit out the foreign object that had silenced it.
"Himiko, hurry! Now!" Que Tang shouted, urging her to move.
Only then did the priestess gracefully draw her spirit-calling banner. Stepping through her strange gait, she pulled a transparent orb from her wide robes and said to the Water Wolf, "Pokémon, I choose you!" She threw the orb.
The orb emitted a golden light once more, enveloping the Water Wolf. The pale blue light was slowly sucked into the sphere until not a trace of blue remained, and the orb automatically returned to the priestess’s hand.
Simultaneously, the entire wall of thorns surrounding the lake collapsed instantly, having lost its magical support.
Que Tang collapsed onto the ground, exhausted. After a whole night of running and exertion, her body—which she had just washed clean that evening—was once again covered in sweat.
The priestess, as usual, walked over to pick up the male protagonist. Only then did he slowly wake up. With a dazed look and a cute, confused voice, he asked, "What happened? Why am I here, Hime?"
"Just now, you stopped the Water Wolf's attack, allowing me to successfully seal it," Himiko explained without any emotional inflection.
This caused Que Tang to shoot her a surprised glance. Didn't they say the supporting female lead wasn't good at talking? She clearly knew exactly how to say what people wanted to hear.
Sure enough, the male protagonist said excitedly, "Really? But wasn't I just sleeping? Could it be that I really have the Hero's Soul that the old man talked about inside me, driving me to protect the world no matter what? It must be so!" He happily rubbed against the priestess’s chest. "Hime, we really are the best partners. As long as I have you, we can definitely save this world!"
From a distance, Que Tang watched the intimate movements of the male and female leads under the moonlight.
She touched her sweat-soaked headscarf. "Sigh, I should go take another bath." She turned and walked toward the hot spring alone.
Himiko, cradling the male protagonist who was still immersed in the joy of another victory for the Hero's Soul, looked back absentmindedly in the direction of the ninja.
As she watched Que Tang’s receding back, her pupils contracted slightly.
***
"Please just focus on eating your dried fish." Que Tang soaked comfortably in the hot spring.
Just as she was drifting off to sleep in her comfort, a completely unclothed figure slowly stepped into the spring and sat down beside her.
Himiko gazed intently at the ninja’s sleeping face. She reached out, tracing the contours of her facial structure. Only at a time like this did the ninja drop all her defenses, allowing her to see the flawless face hidden beneath the mask.
This was her ninja.
| Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 之字刀法 | Zigzag Blade Technique | A sword technique characterized by rapid, Z-shaped movements. |
| 绯袴 | Hibakama | The traditional red pleated trousers worn by Shinto shrine maidens (miko). |
| 水狼 | Water Wolf | One of the elemental guardians of the magic spheres. |
| 泉水女神 | Goddess of the Spring | A reference to the Aesop's fable "The Honest Woodcutter." |
| 招魂幡 | Spirit-Calling Banner | A ritual tool used by the priestess for magic or summoning. |
| 神奇宝贝 | Pokémon | Used here as a parody of the "I choose you" capture sequence. |
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Transmigrated as the Mary Sue: The Villainess's Revenge System | Chapter 25 | The Spring's Guardian | Novela.app | Novela.app
